“Your life at every instant up for— / Gone. / And, candidly, who gives a toss? / Your heart beats strong. Your spirit grips,” writes Christopher Logue in his original version of Homer’s Iliad, the uncanny “translation of translations” that won ecstatic and unparalleled acclaim as “the best translation of Homer since Pope’s” (The New York Review of Books).Logue’s account of Homer’s Iliad is a radical reimagining and reconfiguration of Homer’s tale of warfare, human folly, and the power of the gods in language and verse that is emphatically modern and “possessed of a very terrible beauty” (Slate). Illness prevented him from bringing his version of the Iliad to completion, but enough survives in notebooks and letters to assemble a compilation that includes the previously published volumes War Music, Kings, The Husbands, All Day Permanent Red, and Cold Calls, along with previously unpublished material, in one final illuminating volume arranged by his friend and fellow poet Christopher Reid. The result, War Music, comes as near as possible to representing the poet’s complete vision and confirms what his admirers have long known: that “Logue’s Homer is likely to endure as one of the great long poems of the twentieth century” (The Times Literary Supplement).

    Under the direction of Bryan Doerries, they have been performed for tens of thousands of combat veterans, as well as prison and medical personnel around the world. Striking for their immediacy and emotional impact, Doerries brings to life these ancient plays, like no other translations have before.

    “All twelve were wonderful” is a short introductory presentation of the 12 Olympian Gods of the Greek mythology, focusing on the key notes of their personalities and uniqueness.

    This handsome volume presents Hadbawnik’s version of the first half of Virgil’s great national epic, with atmospheric illustrations from Carrie Kaser. "These translations are not only full of light, but also speed … Hadbawnik’s Aeneid is not the creative destruction of erasure, but rather the well-crafted impoverishment of something potentially too rich to take in."—Joe Milutis, Jacket2 "David Hadbawnik’s free translation of the text steers away from the affectations of seamlessness that direct translations attempt, instead shows the self-awareness of the translation as an effort at subsuming and translator’s role as appropriator. Hadbawnik uses this awareness to work against a translation of replacement by exposing the tension between the language and the text."—Jonathan Lohr, Actuary Lit "Juxtaposed with the gore and horror are Carrie Kaser’s amazing illustrations, which evoke both the soft touch of watercolor and the grittiness of smudged charcoal. Deer and sheep graze. Swans, like the ones Venus describes 'flock[ing] and sing[ing] in the sky,' soar, and some 'in a long line look down / at the others,' echoing the image of the wandering men of Troy."—Lisa Ampleman, Diagram

    This commentary on Acts, his magnum opus, may be the largest and most thoroughly documented Acts commentary ever written. Useful not only for the study of Acts but also early Christianity, this work sets Acts in its first-century context.In this volume, the last of four, Keener finishes his detailed exegesis of Acts, utilizing an unparalleled range of ancient sources and offering a wealth of fresh insights. This magisterial commentary will be an invaluable resource for New Testament professors and students, pastors, Acts scholars, and libraries.

    Peter Brown describes how this shift transformed the Church s institutional relationship to money and set the stage for its domination of medieval society in the West.Early Christian doctrine held that the living and the dead, as equally sinful beings, needed each other in order to achieve redemption. The devotional intercessions of the living could tip the balance between heaven and hell for the deceased. In the third century, money began to play a decisive role in these practices, as wealthy Christians took ever more elaborate steps to protect their own souls and the souls of their loved ones in the afterlife. They secured privileged burial sites and made lavish donations to churches. By the seventh century, Europe was dotted with richly endowed monasteries and funerary chapels displaying in marble splendor the Christian devotion of the wealthy dead.In response to the growing influence of money, Church doctrine concerning the afterlife evolved from speculation to firm reality, and personal wealth in the pursuit of redemption led to extraordinary feats of architecture and acts of generosity. But it also prompted stormy debates about money s proper use debates that resonated through the centuries and kept alive the fundamental question of how heaven and earth could be joined by human agency."

    The merging of the traditions of Roman-Mediterranean societies with the customs of Northern Europe created new political, economic, social and religious structures and practices. Between 500 and 1300 CE, food in all its manifestations, from agriculture to symbol, became ever more complex and integral to Europe's culture and economy. The period saw the growth of culinary literature, the introduction of new spices and cuisines as a result of trade and war, the impact of the Black Death on food resources, the widening gap between what was eaten by the rich and what by the poor, as well as the influence of religion on food rituals.A Cultural History of Food in the Medieval Age presents an overview of the period with essays on food production, food systems, food security, safety and crises, food and politics, eating out, professional cooking, kitchens and service work, family and domesticity, body and soul, representations of food, and developments in food production and consumption globally.

    Through most of its long history, Greece was poor. But in the classical era, Greece was densely populated and highly urbanized. Many surprisingly healthy Greeks lived in remarkably big houses and worked for high wages at specialized occupations. Middle-class spending drove sustained economic growth. Classical wealth produced a stunning cultural efflorescence lasting hundreds of years.Why did Greece reach such heights in the classical period--and why only then? And how, after "the Greek miracle" had endured for centuries, did the Macedonians defeat the Greeks, seemingly bringing an end to their glory? Drawing on a massive body of newly available data and employing novel approaches to evidence, Josiah Ober offers a major new history of classical Greece and an unprecedented account of its rise and fall.Ober argues that Greece's rise was no miracle but rather the result of political breakthroughs and economic development. The extraordinary emergence of citizen-centered city-states transformed Greece into a society that defeated the mighty Persian Empire. Yet Philip and Alexander of Macedon were able to beat the Greeks in the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE, a victory enabled by the Macedonians' appropriation of Greek innovations. After Alexander's death, battle-hardened warlords fought ruthlessly over the remnants of his empire. But Greek cities remained populous and wealthy, their economy and culture surviving to be passed on to the Romans--and to us.A compelling narrative filled with uncanny modern parallels, this is a book for anyone interested in how great civilizations are born and die.This book is based on evidence available on a new interactive website. To learn more, please visit http://polis.stanford.edu/

    

    Science unavailable to ancient sources helped guide author Spencer Clevenger to critical insights and intriguing results. In Greek Mythic History, he weaves myths concerning gods, kings, and heroes into their intended time and place and offers a concise retelling of Greek myths from a historic perspective. Capitalizing on modern discoveries, Clevenger tells the story in chronological order, starting with the creation of the cosmos and ending in the Dark Ages when poets began to write down their myths and stories. Neither history nor mythology, the stories depict what history might be if the myths were interpreted more literally.With maps and exhibits included, Greek Mythic History provides a comprehensive retelling of the various Hellenic myths in a logical historical sequence, and places nearly the entire canon into context.